Ensign O'Toole

infobox television
show_name = Ensign O'Toole
format = Sitcom
picture_format = Black and white
runtime = 30 minutes
starring = Dean Jones
Jack Mullaney Harvey Lembeck
Jack Albertson Jay C. Flippen Beau Bridges
Robert Sorrells John McGiver
country = United States
network = NBC
first_aired = September 23, 1962
last_aired = May 5, 1963
num_seasons = 1
num_episodes = 32
imdb_id = 0055671

"Ensign O'Toole" is a military comedy which aired on NBC from September 23, 1962, to May 5, 1963, with 31-year-old Dean Jones in the title role of a nonchalant Navy ensign during the early 1960s. Jones, born in 1931 in Alabama and a Navy veteran of the Korean War, played an officer aboard the destroyer "U.S.S. Appleby", which roamed the Pacific Ocean. The "Appleby"'s crew included:

* Jack Mullaney (1929-1984) a 33-year-old Lieutenant Rex St. John, wealthy, handsome, and ambitious but vain

*Jay C. Flippen (1899-1971) as the cantankerous Chief Petty Officer Homer Nelson

*Jack Albertson (1907-1981), as Lieutenant Commander Virgil Stone, the ship's executive officer who delivered orders from the ship's unseen captain, heard only over speakers

*Harvey Lembeck (1923-1982), earlier on Phil Silvers's "Sergeant Bilko" series, portrayed Seaman Gabby Di Julio

*Beau Bridges (born 1941), son of Lloyd Bridges, as Seaman Howard Spicer

*Robert Sorrells (born 1930) as Seaman Claude White

*John McGiver (1913-1975), a popular character actor who later starred on CBS's "Many Happy Returns", appeared as Stoner's brother-in-law, the psychologist Arthur Ainsley, who argued that the ship's crew was unhappy and hiding deep-seated depression.TV.com: "Ensign O'Toole":http://www.tv.com/ensign-otoole/show/4531/summary.htmlhttp://www.tvacres.com/military_ensignotoole.htm]

eries background

"Ensign O'Toole" was based on "All the Ships at Sea" and "Ensign O'Toole and Me", two books by William Lederer, who served as a consultant on the series. Though there was no second season of production, "Ensign O'Toole" was repeated on NBC through September 15, 1963, and it was rebroadcast once more by ABC in the 1963—1964 season.

The "Appleby" was actually the "USS Frank E. Evans (DD-754)", which had been launched on October 3, 1944, and commissioned on February 3, 1945. On June 3, 1969, the "Evans" was cut in half in a collision with the Australian aircraft carrier "HMAS Melbourne". A few months later, the bow and stern of the ship were sunk as targets in Subic Bay, Phillipines.

"Ensign O'Toole" was aired opposite CBS's long-running "Lassie" at the 7 p.m. Eastern time slot on Sundays. ABC that season aired repeats of Robert Young's "Father Knows Best" in the same time slot. [1962-1963 American television network schedule]

elected episodes

During its tour of duty, the "Appleby" anchored in numerous ports: Hong Kong, South Korea, the Arctic, the South Pacific, and its home port, San Diego, California. The opening episode entitled "Operation Kowana" introduces the cast. The sailors are given shore leave with a stern warning to mind their behavior when they land in the Japanese port of Kowana.http://www.geocities.com/TelevisionCity/Stage/2950?US/Comedy/EnsignOToole.htm?200] The second episode, "Operation Model T", which aired on September 30, 1962, O'Toole (who had no first name on the program) buys a Model T on a French island in the South Pacific and camouflages it in pieces aboard the ship. After reaching California, O'Toole has the car reassembled, and an admiral, who is an antique car collector, sees it on the dock and thus foils the ensing's plans.

In the third episode, October 7, 1962, entitled "Operation Daddy", O'Toole has to assemble emergency leave papers for Seaman White, whose wife in Omaha, Nebraska, is about to give birth.

In "Operation Benefit" (October 14, 1962), while the "Appleby" was in Korea, Ensign O'Toole and the crew put on the "Foster Father's Follies" show to raise money to adopt Korean orphans. The Kim Sisters provided the entertainment. Dick Powell (1904-1963), owner of Four Star Television, which produced the series, guest starred in the episode. [Internet Movie Data Base: "Ensign O'Toole":http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055671/] At the time of his appearance, Powell had fewer than three months to live.

Soupy Sales guest starred in "Operation Jinx" on October 21, 1962, as Seaman Jerome J. Johnson". Chief Nelson warns of trouble because Johnson is believed to be a bad-luck omen.

In "Operation Holdout" on October 28, 1962, the crew found four stranded soldiers, two American and two Japanese, who think World War II is still underway.
Harry Morgan (born 1915), later Colonel Sherman T. Potter on CBS's "M*A*S*H*" appeared as the cook "Charlie" in the November 18, 1962 episode entitled "Operation Mess". O'Toole is puzzled why the crew is grumbling about the food when Charlie was previously known as a superior chef.

In "Operation Potomoc" on December 9, 1962, O'Toole tries to determine why someone sent him a dress while the ship is in port near Washington, D.C. The unsolicited gift inspired lots of ribbing from his fellow crew members. Eventually, O'Toole learns the dress was for a female naval officer with the same name assigned to the same installation.

"Operation Gaslight" on December 16, 1962, featured Steven Franken, Chatsworth Osborne, Jr., in CBS's "The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis", as Ensign Bender, a by-the-book sailor from the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland. O'Toole decides to "initiate" Bender by convincing him that he has contracted an unusual nautical disease.

In "Operation Swindle" on December 30, 1962, Rosemary De Camp, who played the sister of Bob Cummings in an earlier NBC comedy series, guest starred as a Southern belle who strips Chief Nelson of his bank book.

"Operation Intrigue" on January 13, 1963, us set in Hong Kong, then a British colony. O'Toole volunteered to help Scotland Yard find a jewel thief by going undercover.

In "Operation Stowaway" on March 24, 1963, Nita Talbot appears as Grapunia, a young girl who stows away on the "Appleby", and the crew goes overboard to win her favor.

In "Operation Tubby" on April 14, 1963, Stubby Kaye (1918-1997) guest starred as Tubby Mason, a compulsive eater on the verge of being discharged from the Navy for obesity. He is ordered to go on a crash diet.

The final episode, "Operation Geisha", has Jack Carter as a con man who must return money to an irate victim. He and a partner open a reverse geisha house.

After "Ensign O'Toole", Dean Jones starred in numerous Walt Disney films from 1965—1977.

References